Guitar Hero III controller exploded

You had no idea it had changed this much - we'll show you everything

You know Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is going to be fantastic. You know all the songs and game modes because you've read all of ournews storiesandpreviews. But you don't know everything you need to, because you didn't meet with Activision for a full presentation on the new guitar controller - which has been tweaked, improved, and just plain mutated in about ten more ways than anyone could have guessed. But don't worry - we were there, and we're dying to spill our guts.

The Gibson SG and Xplorer shapes that defined the first two GH guitars have been retired. Now, the guitar's body is shaped like a classic Les Paul, invented by a jazz guitarist, first released in 1952 and favored by everyone from Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page to Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong.

The strum bar is much longer now (easier to hit?), with higher-quality switches inside and the Start and Select buttons have been moved and rejiggered to make it harder to hit them accidentally... but it still happened when triggering star power in one of our matches, so don't expect that to make you less clumsy.

You know Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is going to be fantastic. You know all the songs and game modes because you've read all of ournews storiesandpreviews. But you don't know everything you need to, because you didn't meet with Activision for a full presentation on the new guitar controller - which has been tweaked, improved, and just plain mutated in about ten more ways than anyone could have guessed. But don't worry - we were there, and we're dying to spill our guts.

The Gibson SG and Xplorer shapes that defined the first two GH guitars have been retired. Now, the guitar's body is shaped like a classic Les Paul, invented by a jazz guitarist, first released in 1952 and favored by everyone from Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page to Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong.

The strum bar is much longer now (easier to hit?), with higher-quality switches inside and the Start and Select buttons have been moved and rejiggered to make it harder to hit them accidentally... but it still happened when triggering star power in one of our matches, so don't expect that to make you less clumsy.